The Spider's Web
by samus18
Summary: A banished monster finds a way back into Monstropolis. Accompanied by his human companion, who faces difficulties while trying to adjust to her new environment, he must come to terms with the way things have changed since his exile. Rated for later chapters, two OC's, James P. Sullivan, Johnny Worthington, e.t.c.
1. Chapter 1

**AN**: I realize this story will not be for just anyone to read, especially during later content in further chapters. OC's are not always easy to give character development to, and I hope that - for those of you who make the attempt to come and read through this - you'll bear with me on Victor and Rebecca. Thanks for giving this a chance, and please don't take it too seriously, it's just fiction (I say this primarily for what may occur in later chapters.)

The Spider's Web

Somewhere, central California

The temperature was just right for a day like this.

California was famous for its hospitable weather, and the present Sunday in October was no exception. Summer was graduating into autumn, and all the land was at the midpoint in which the outside world was, for a time, perfect.  
One could take a step outside, and the first thing they would notice was the crispness of the air, and the blue of the sky - quite different from the simmering, hazy summer skies that, after a while, bore down on the land with a frowning eye.  
There sat a dry watercourse - what had been a river, in fact - down the hill from a small ravine that bordered the edge of a neighborhood. Many roads led down to this watercourse, having flowed with vigor last year, only to dry up and cease to exist altogether the next. The only inhabitants that still lingered among the dry rivulet were rodents, coyotes, foxes, the occasional bobcat, and homeless human beings.

The watercourse was a good place for cover, if one did not wish to be seen or disturbed. Most folks avoided it, primarily because it was known to house vagabonds and vagrants, however diminished that number might be. During the day it was relatively unoccupied and had about as much life as a desolate wasteland (picturesque scenery aside.)

...In this watercourse, beneath a cleverly secluded den of sticks and tree branches, there lived a small monster.

He was a former citizen of Monstropolis. His name was Victor.

As far as monsters went, he was not especially terrifying. He was four feet tall, had red-orange skin, two arms, and only two legs. His face was narrow and reptilian in appearance, but he had eyes winsome enough to overshadow his otherwise ominous (to humans) appearance. Two small horns jutted out the top of his skull, and he was armed with fairly large claws, for his size. A short, stubby tail was perhaps his least-favorite attribute, having always envied the monsters with longer, more impressive tails to compliment their fearsome features.

Presently, Victor was peering beneath the overhanging branches that comprised the roof of his shelter. He lay crouched like a giant cat sunning, eyes darting this way and that, with the occasional twitch of his claw. He hadn't seen many humans out and about this day, which was always good news for him. During the two years he had lived in the human world, he'd managed to become quite good at avoiding even the local vagabonds, as well as the passing car or jogger. Dogs were another matter altogether, as too many people seemed to take them out in public without a leash (which, from what he had gathered by reading local signs, was against the human laws.) He'd had his fair share of trouble with dogs, but usually all it took to keep the human's pets away was a low growl. Most dogs would know when to back off.

These thoughts running through his mind, his eyes widened slightly when there emerged from around the bend the figure of a human woman. He kept his eyes on her as she purposefully made her way toward his lair. The wind played with her dark hair; she brushed it aside with an irritated swipe of her hand. In the other, she carried an insulated lunch bag. She wore a pair of sunglasses.

Victor's eyes scanned the area once, twice - and when the woman was not fifteen feet away from his lair, he emerged. He never felt completely at ease leaving his lair, even when there was no one around. The human world was not meant for monsters, and as such, Victor had never completely taken to his surroundings without wondering if he would be caught unawares.

The woman gave the slightest trace of a smile. "Hi, Victor."

He nodded his head in greeting. "Rebecca." He glanced around out of habit. "How are you today?"

She set the lunch bag on the ground and wiped her hands on her shorts. "Good, doing well. I brought you something to eat." She took the bag and handed it to him, which he gratefully accepted.

"Thanks," he said, and opened it, immediately setting to work on the sandwiches and chips. Afterwards he took a gulp of water that she had put in a bottle for him.

She sat down on a nearby rock and adjusted her sunglasses; she never could stand to be outside without them. She looked over and saw him eyeing her curiously. "What have you been up to lately?" he asked between the last few bites of sandwich.

She shrugged a shoulder. "Same old things. I'm still working on my jewelry business, and enjoying the quiet time I have during the day." She took the lunch bag he offered.

Almost hesitantly, he said, "Did I ever tell you how much I appreciate your kindness? I mean...let's face it, food isn't easy to find around here." He gave a small, nervous laugh.

She smiled. "You've told me. And you're more than welcome to it. If I were in your position, I'd appreciate any help I could get."

There was a pause in which each seemed unsure of what to say. Finally, Rebecca swallowed, brushed another handful of hair out of her face, and asked what she had originally come to ask:

"Victor...don't you think you could, you know...finally show me where you come from?"

Almost before she ended the sentence, he hung his head back in repeated exasperation and looked to the sky, using his stubby tail for balance. "We've been through this a hundred times!"

"I know, and you never agree to take me there!"

"It won't work, Rebecca. You can't just open any closet door and _wham_ you're there!"

"I know that," she insisted, trying not to become frustrated, "You've told me a hundred times, like you said. But I know you know how to get back. Based on what you told me, all it would take is to have a door linked to your world."

Trying a different tactic, he folded his arms and frowned. "I've also been _banished_ from my world. Which means that even if I could get back - and bring you along with me which would no doubt result in yet another banishment or something worse - I'd get caught before you could say 'We scare because we care.'"

She knew he was right, but she refused to give in so easily."There's got to be some way to do it."

"There isn't." He stood firm, arms folded, equally stubborn. They stared at each other.

It was a long drawn-out argument they had been having ever since Rebecca had felt bold enough to bring it up in the first place, many months ago. So far, Victor had always been the...well, victor. Each time he won, she did her best to convince herself that it was never going to happen and that her strange friend would never agree to show her his "secret world," as she tended to think of it.

No doubt to him it was no secret, but his lifelong home (or ex-home.) But that was part of the appeal for her. Ever since she first came across him, and had gradually come to befriend him, she had wondered intensely what sort of place Monstropolis was. He had told her about it before. His description and personal accounts didn't do much to satisfy her curiosity, however - a trait that had always been both a gift and a curse, depending on where it led her. Simply knowing that it existed and that there also existed a possibility (despite what he told her) of getting a glimpse into that world, was enough to drive her to keep pestering him.

"You know I'm going to keep asking until you agree to let me see it," she said pointedly.

He sighed, but held his ground. "And you know I'm just gonna keep saying 'no,' until you get the message."

The look on her face changed, and she let her arms fall to the side. "I want to see your homeworld, Victor. I've been wanting to see it ever since I learned where you came from."

Something in the tone of her voice made him regard her more seriously. His features softened when he answered, "I know. But I can't take you there. It's impossible, it's against the rules - Monstropolis is not for humans. This isn't just about me having been...banished. Don't you realize what would happen if I took a human back to my world?" He paused to let the reality sink in. "Think world-wide panic and mayhem. Think disaster and chaos. Nothing would ever be the same. I don't even want to think about what the authorities would do to _me_." He shuddered.

To his surprise, she chuckled. "I have a hard time believing it would be as bad as all that. Sure, humans aren't allowed in your world, and human kids are supposed to be...toxic. I don't even know where you monsters got that idea from. But what's the worst that could happen, _aside_ from what you've already mentioned?"

He folded his arms again. "What I've already mentioned just about covers it." His frown frazzled her nerves a little. "It's reason enough for me, and it ought to be reason enough for you."

She shook her head, feeling defeated for the umpteenth time.

Neither said much of anything more for a while. They were, for the most part, content to sit in each other's company and take in their surroundings. A light wind blew on and off throughout the day, blowing tumbleweeds and dust into the warm air. No one felt compelled to keep track of the time. Both Rebecca and Victor were above-average quiet - perhaps the one thing the two very opposite creatures had in common - and prefered a little more solitude than was considered normal. Not that they were averse to the occasional gathering - in their own elements, of course.

Rebecca eventually dared to break the silence by asking, "It was funny, when we first met, how surprised I was when I saw you."

He allowed himself a smug, surreptitious grin. It was a naughty pleasure of his, recalling how stricken Rebecca had been when she first laid eyes on him - and here she wasn't even a kid. The more prideful part of him wanted to believe that there was more monster in him than he thought, but these days he always pushed such thoughts to the back of his mind. It hardly mattered how much of a monster he was anymore.

"I seem to recall you bringing your sibling down here to take a peek at me."

"My brother. Yes, I did. But you hadn't shown yourself then. You didn't for a while, in fact."

"I did eventually. You insisted on coming back here to look for me. At least you didn't bring the police with you," he snorted.

She almost giggled at the idea. "Bringing the police wouldn't have been a very good idea on my part. Besides, what makes you think they would believe me? Right, I'm gonna go to the cops and tell them I saw a monster in the bushes." She still had a hard time using the word "monster," as humans tended to find it an insulting word. But Victor, being a monster, didn't so much as bat an eye.

"A fair point," he said lightly, folding his arms behind his head. "But where I come from, humans are notorious not just because their children are toxic" (she tried not to scoff), "but also because they are reputed trouble-makers."

"Are you trying to say I'm a trouble-maker?"

He lifted his palms. "Hey, nothing personal. It's just how it is."

"Victor," she said, feeling a sudden urge to bring back their old topic, "what about if you just offered me a peek of your world, and that'd be it?"

He mock-gaped at her. "You're not letting this go."

"I've gotta see it, Victor. It's plain and simple. Please. I'm dying to be the first person in all of history to see a different world -"

"You just want to be the first person, is that it?"

She smiled. "Well, no. I don't really care if I'm the first person or not. I just wanna see it!"

He shook his head, rubbed the back of his neck, stared at the sky. "Alright listen...if I get you into my world, we're gonna have to find a way to do it..._safely_."

She was grinning before he had finished. Trying to contain her excitement lest he change his mind, she said, "I can't believe it...you're actually agreeing to this?"

He gave an uncomfortable shrug. "I don't know, it all depends on how we do it. Let's see...We could try dressing you up as a monster..."

She shook her head, feeling inspired to come up with a good solution before the fizzle died down. "I don't know if that would work. What about if you pretended to run...I don't know...a student exchange program, only, with humans?"

He half snorted, half laughed. "Believe me when I say that we'd have a better chance of dressing you up than pulling that one off."

She shrugged. "What else do you suggest?"

"That we give this up altogether."

She straightened. "You know what I mean," she growled.

He puffed a sigh. "Let me think about this, alright? If you insist on going through with it, then we oughtta do it right -_ if_ there's any right way to do it."

She agreed, and they split ways for the day.

True to his word, Victor did indeed spend the majority of the rest of the day trying to come up with a plausible way in which he could introduce his human friend to the monster world - temporarily and very briefly, that is. The way he figured it, his own situation wasn't likely to get any worse than it already was. After all, it wasn't like they could banish him twice. It also didn't look like Rebecca was inclined to ever stop bugging him about seeing Monstropolis. Sometimes he wondered whether he ought to have told her the truth about himself in the first place. He supposed he could have - yes - _lied_, and tried to sell the idea that he was a scientific experiment gone wrong (though he didn't think she'd actually believe that.)

But, he had told her the truth, and there was no going back on it at this point.

When he had first met her, after their initial scare, and had begun to regard each other as acquaintances, he had at first been surprised at how readily she accepted the truth of his existence and his homeworld. But it wasn't until some time later that she dared to approach the subject of him bringing her to his world for a quick visit (that she made it sound so easy somewhat aggravated him), and hadn't let go of the topic since then.

Rebecca, meanwhile, walked the short yet tedious road back home. She hardly noticed the strain, however, as her mind was full of possibilities of what was to come - or might come, depending on whether she and Victor were able to come up with a plausible way to do it. All the way home, she wondered what Monstropolis was like, if it was anything like the world she lived in. Based on what Victor had told her, it sounded like the human world and the monster world shared quite a few similarities. She imagined buildings in tall, funny shapes and crazy colors. She imaged creatures that looked like Victor, even though he had elaborated on how unique most monsters were from each other.

Victor and Rebecca reconvened the next day as soon as the sun was well into the sky.

She was applying the last bit of sunscreen on her arm when he stepped from beneath his shack and waved a hand. She greeted him with a smile.

"So," she said when they were within earshot, "did you come up with anything? 'Cause I have to admit I didn't."

"Believe it or not, yes." Her eyes lit up. He explained, "I've changed my mind about the whole 'foreign exchange student' idea of yours. I think there might - just _might_ - be a way to pull it off, in a manner of speaking."

"If you can get me the necessary documents, I can...make it seem legit, that you're something of an exchange student. Only you won't be a student. You'll be..." here he paused, as if gathering inspiration, "the first human tourist Monstropolis has ever seen!" He spread his hands as if he were announcing the title of a new picture in theaters.

She blinked. "I'm not sure I understand. You're saying that all you're going to do is type up a bunch of papers saying I'm a tourist and everyone'll buy it?"

"They will - or they _might_, but not for long. Which is why we've got to make your visit brief. You said you only wanted a peek. I might be able to give you more than that - but not much more."

"Why would anyone believe it, though? You've told me before that no monster in their right mind would accept a human in their world."

"They won't. But it's the best plan I can think of. Besides, I have something that will help - in fact it'll help a great deal." He trotted off toward his lair.

"What sort of thing is it?" she called after him.

But he made no answer and disappeared beneath the shabby roof of his shack. He reappeared a second later with something clenched in his fist. She peered curiously at his hand, then back at him. "What is it?" she repeated.

He unfolded his fingers, revealing a small stamp. It was round, with two small horns poking from the top, and an inscription in the center which she couldn't make out. It was intricate and ornate, with a very old-world appearance.

"Remember when I told you that I used to work for foreign relations in my world?" He held up the stamp. "It's a seal. It used to be my job to stamp the company's logo onto documents, papers - other stuff. It's not all I did, but...well, I was lucky enough to have had this hidden in my shirt pocket when they kicked me out for good. I'm lucky they didn't search me."

She stared at the seal with new interest. "I think I see now. With that stamp, the documents you'll create will be legitimate..."

He held up a finger. "Only for a while. This kinda stuff gets found out easily, so if we pull this off at all, it's gonna have to be fast."

She nodded. "Alright. We have no choice either way." There was a pause, and she pressed, "So, what's our next step?"

"I need to make the documents. I'll need paper. And a printer. Which means access to a computer."

This time she sighed, and looked up the ravine toward her house. Her dark hair fluttered in the wind, and she squinted her green eyes against the sun. "I can't take you to my house while my mom is there, she'd freak out or who knows what. The only way I can think to do it, is to wait until she's gone on an errand or something. And even then," she muttered, more to herself than to Victor, "I'd still probably have to disguise you, or hide you in some way..."

He reached out instinctively toward her arm, then withdrew just as quickly, remembering that she was human. "We'll work together on this. It's the only way we might pull it off."

"Yeah. Well, how much time will you be needing on the computer?"

"It'll take a while. Sorry, but documents like these take time, if you want to make them sound like the real deal."

She groaned. "In that case you might have to make several trips to my house. This might take longer than I thought."

He shrugged. "So far as I see it, we've got all the time in the world. You want to see Monstropolis, don't you?"

"Yes."

"Then let's get this underway and do the best we can."

It turned out that they ended up having to wait two weeks for Rebecca's mother to leave the house on an errand. She had previously been ill and had stayed home in bed for a good while. Even when she had recovered, she didn't want to chance going out in public so soon - so Rebecca and Victor waited patiently for the right time to present itself. Rebecca, in the meanwhile, had been busy herself, tending to her mother.

But the day came when her mother was almost fully recovered, and it was getting harder to keep her down. She told her daughter that she was going to run a few errands at the craft store.

As soon as her mother's car was out of sight, she raced down the long road toward the dry riverbed and sought out her friend. She was panting and nearly sweating from the heat (after all autumn had not fully arrived.) She could barely get out the words to tell Victor that the coast was clear.

When he inquired about being seen, she smacked herself on the forehead; she had forgotten to bring a disguise.

After managing yet another trek up the road, retrieving a blanket from the closet, and walking all the way back down, she was nearly "dead of exhaustion," as she put it.

"I know it's hot," she panted, holding the blanket out to him. "But maybe you won't have to wear it the whole way. If we take the back trail through the cluster of trees, you'll have less chance of being seen."

So they started off, with Victor reluctantly holding the blanket in a knot under his chin, and made toward the path through the small forest. Both of them felt silly about the ordeal. Rebecca wondered what people would think if they saw a short, blanket-clad person walking through the forest in the heat of the day. Victor wondered what his friends and family back home would think if they could see him now - but a pang in his chest reminded him that it was best not to let such thoughts surface.

When they finally trekked up the last, hardest, and steepest part of the hike toward her house, he threw off the blanket and panted with exertion.

"I'll take you into the house. This is no day to be out walking," she panted.

Several minutes later found Victor working on her laptop with a glass of ice water at hand. She sat near the window in the guest room next door, as it offered the best view of the driveway. She didn't want to take any chances of her mother coming home, not when Victor was in the house. 'Worst come to worst, I can always hide the chap in my closet,' she thought idly and took a drink of water.

It was strange for her to see the monster sitting in her room, using her laptop, as if it wasn't completely out of the ordinary and absurd. She did, however, admire how diligently he worked. Whenever she was on the computer, unless she was utterly absorbed with what she was doing, it didn't take much to get her off again and find something else to do. Tedious computer work - especially that having to do with documentation and paperwork - had never been her forte.

Having become bored with sentry duty, she busied herself with a book.

A longer while later, she checked the time, and gave Victor a warning. "My mom could come back any minute," she said.

"Let me finish this last sentence."

"How far did you get?" she asked when he had finished.

"Pretty far, but it's not completely finished."

She went out the front door first and made sure the coast was clear before letting him out in broad daylight. "Sorry, my friend," she said with compassion, "you're gonna have to put that blanket on again."

He scrunched up his eyes in agony and tossed the blanket over his head. "I've suffered worse, I suppose."

"I hope you know how much I appreciate you going through all of this."

He made no reply.

"It's a lot of trouble, I know. But it means a lot to me, especially as I know you didn't wanna go through with it."

Always one to be frank, he replied with a candid statement of his own. "To be honest, girl, I have my own reasons for wanting to get back."

"I can imagine. You probably have family back home?"

He hesitated to elaborate, even though he did consider this human as his friend - indeed, the only friend he had in this strange world. Feeling a slight chill even under the stifling blanket, he decided to concede. "Did I ever tell you why I was banished?"

She glanced down at him with a thoughtful frown. It was a topic she had always been curious about, but had never yet ventured to ask for fear of offending him. "No."

"Well, I'll tell you." He heaved a sigh. "For the better part of my life, I had been curious about the human world. All monsters are, to an extent, but my curiosity was stronger than average, and it ended up causing me - and my family - a heap of trouble. As a younger kid, I'd always be looking into information about the human world, asking my friends, reading - stuff like that. But it wasn't enough. All the books ever told me was how to scare human kids, and the importance of obtaining scream energy for our homes. The information never went deeper than that."

"Years later, when I began to work for foreign relations, I wasn't just required to deal in paperwork. I was expected to work with monsters from all over the world. It was interesting work and I liked it. It gave me a taste of something different, something new and refreshing, and for a while my interest in the human world subsided. My family and friends thought it had been a youthful phase that was finally over. It wasn't. I came across a book one day in the lounge area while on my break. It was buried beneath other books, and looked old and worn, so naturally I was curious to see what it was. The title was called 'Trapped In the Human World.' Apparently, it was written by a monster who had been banished, and wrote about his life here on the other side. I never understood - and still don't - how his book made it back to Monstropolis. Maybe it was just fiction; who knows.

Anyway, I sipped my coffee and read the book for a good 10 minutes before going back on duty. After my shift, I obtained permission from the higher ups to take the book home, on the promise that I would return it. One or two of my better-known colleagues silently shook their heads, knowing of my past fancies about the human world."

Here, he chuckled grimly and shook his head. "I've often wondered...if it hadn't been for that book, would my interest in this world have been buried for good, or was it bound to resurface?" He was silent for a time. Rebecca stayed quiet, transfixed with the history he was sharing, and not wishing to interrupt his reverie.

He went on. "As you can guess, I did end up reading the entire book, and after, returned it to the lounge. That's when the trouble started. I began to get ideas of introducing a human or two into the monster world. I thought it a good potential for understanding between our peoples. A lot of monsters could easily have said, 'Well, there's no point in breaching the barrier between worlds, because our way of life works right now, just the way it's always been.' They could have said it was too dangerous.

What they _did_ say was that I was crazy. No human had ever been into our world before, so naturally the idea was out of the question.

But I felt there was something in my idea. I thought it could work, if given the chance. Monsters have been scaring human kids for time on end, but what would happen if our two peoples reached an understanding? I thought that if we could negotiate with humans, they might help us obtain more energy than the monster world has ever seen in all its history. For centuries we've been obligated to take it by force, in our own way. Something in me had the idea that it was time to move on, to progress toward different things. I realize now they must have seen me as some kind of crazy idealist.

Well, needless to say, my ambitions were not contagious. My friends were sympathetic, and they listened to what I had to say - more out of politeness, I think, than because they were really interested. But after a while they warned me to stop pursuing my foolish fancies and to focus on my work like a regular monster. They told me that the only purpose of going into the human world was to get kids to scream for us, and even then, the only monsters who went into the human world were scarers." He chuckled again. "For a while I even entertained the thought of trying to become a scarer, in order that I might get my first real glimpse of your world."

Rebecca smiled. "What happened next?"

"Well, the scarer idea fell short before it even got off the runway. I wasn't scary enough, and I knew it, so I didn't bother trying to go down that path. Still, I was determined to introduce my notion to the world. In spite of my friends' warnings, I took my idea up with the manager of my company. After all, we dealt in relations with foreign monsters. I figured if anyone would understand breaching gaps and connecting with others from different regions, it would be the head of the foreign relations committee. But I was wrong in thinking that my director would understand. He told me that contact with the human world outside of frightening children was simply out of the question. What really hurt was being told to stick to my main job, or I'd have to find work elsewhere. I was almost tempted to give up, after that. I liked my job, and didn't want to jeopardize it."

She heaved a sigh. "That's something," she said in a faraway voice. "I wonder...I didn't know that your people had such qualms about contacting the human world."

He gave a bitter laugh. "Believe me, they do."

They had made it through the ravine and now were walking through the more secluded forest path towards Victor's shack.

"How did you get banished, though?" she asked.

He rubbed the back of his neck. "By pushing it too far. Believe me, it took a while for things to get as bad as they did. I tried finding supporters elsewhere, people who weren't my friends and who weren't connected with me. I managed to find some who did listen and take an interest in my ideas and goals, but most of them were too afraid of the law (and of the CDA) to get in too deep. I cinched my sentence when I dared to approach a scare company and try and obtain permission to enter into the human world - strictly the child's bedroom, mind you - on the grounds that I would cause no trouble and merely intended to gather information for research purposes."

She looked at him. He had told her about scare companies before, about how the scariest monsters went to work there in order to scare human children. From what he had told her, she surmised that scarers generally had the status of a superstar in their world.

"My dad," he continued with obvious effort, "worked at the company as a scarer. He was there the day I walked in, looking for trouble. He knew what I was getting at, when I asked to go through one of the doors." He paused, and said with finality, "He reported me to the authorities, and...that's when they threw me out for good."

Rebecca heaved a painful sigh and raised her head. "Your father -"

"Yes," he cut in.

"Gosh," she said under her breath. She wanted to say more, to comfort her friend in some way, but no words would come. Having heard his story, she marveled that he had ever agreed to try and get back to his world. She regretted, too, pushing him so hard. Had she known about what he went through, she might have been inclined to back off. It was too late now. They both made the decision, had both agreed on it, and she didn't want Victor's hard work going to waste. And she still wanted to see it.

They walked in silence for a while. When they made it to the riverbed, he stopped and turned to his friend.  
She felt uneasy. "I'll let you know...the next time I can get you into the house..." The sentence hung incomplete in the air.

He must have sensed her discomfort, because he said, "It's alright, no worries. Maybe...who knows? maybe going back will give me a second chance. Maybe they'll realize I've learned my lesson." He cleared his throat. "Y'know, the more I think about it, the more I think it _is_ time to give it a shot."

They said their farewells and parted ways for the rest of the day.

It was a few days, in fact, before Rebecca ventured down to see Victor again. Although they considered one another friends, they did not always meet on a daily basis. Rebecca, though she felt that Victor must be lonely in such a world without any of his own kind, wanted to give him his space and respect the suffering he was going through. Might be going through.

He always seemed relatively easy-going in spite of his situation. Two years must have been enough time to become more-or-less used to his predicament, or at least come to terms with it.

When she met with him, she gave him the go-ahead that it was safe to be at her house for a while. Her mother, who was a professional photographer, was out shooting a wedding with her boyfriend, and they would be gone for a good many hours. Her mother's business - one she had started with her boyfriend - was relatively new, and such opportunities didn't come along as often as Rebecca would have preferred (under the present circumstances.) So she was more than willing to take advantage of it - for her sake and for Victor's.

She brought a sheet for concealment this time. "It's cooler than a full-on blanket," she said apologetically. "I feel silly for not having thought of it sooner."

He donned the disguise, and they made their second walk down the longer road to her house.

They proceeded much as they did last time, with her keeping watch, and Victor working away on the computer. She tried not to feel guilty about sneaking a friend (a monster) into the house without her mother knowing. But she knew that if she felt she could tell her mother, she would have. It would complicate things if her mother even knew of the existence of these creatures. Rebecca was an older girl, to be sure, and probably ought to have told someone about her friend - but she felt that it would be wrong to reveal Victor. The world wasn't ready for such things, and probably never would be. She had no idea how her mother, or anyone else, would react to someone like him, and as such, she felt it safer not to go blabbing about it.

A while later found her with a book propped on her lap, half asleep at the window, and Victor eagerly typing away on her laptop. He was nearly finished this time and getting antsy about it. His eyes were slightly narrowed, as they always were when focused intently on something, and his tail flicked back and forth in concentration.

When he had finished, he breathed a sigh of relief, leaned back in the chair, and scrolled to the top of the page.

"All finished," he called.

She groggily sat up and went to her room. "How'd it go?"

"I'm gonna proofread it before I print it out."

When he had read through the papers and finished correcting minor errors, she assisted him in printing them. She said she didn't have a printer hooked up to her laptop and that they would need to borrow her mom's instead. When the papers were out, he gingerly removed them and gazed at them for a few seconds. Rebecca couldn't keep quiet any longer.

"So what's the next step? Going through the door?"

"Yes, but it won't be that easy," he hastened to say. "A lot of it's gonna be left up to chance, first of all. We have to find a door in the bedroom of a small child - I'm talking no older than 5, if possible - and on top of that, we have to be sure that the scare companies are gonna be working this region."

"How do we know if they'll be working this region?"

He shrugged. "We don't. That's the problem. They could be working on the other side of your world, for all we know. There are no guarantees."

She sighed. "Boy, you weren't kidding when you said this wasn't going to be as easy as we thought." She rubbed the back of her neck. "Well, let's get out of the house for now. I'll feel better if we can talk about this at your...place."

They left the confines of the house and took their conversation to his shack. Rebecca had brought along some water and something to eat.

"So," she said, sitting down on the flat rock outside of his lair. "What do you think we should do?"

"I could try and think of a better plan, I guess - but the only way I can see to do this is to risk it, and hope that an opportunity will present itself. We need the right door, for one thing."

She shook her head. "I'm sure you've gathered that there aren't any small children in my house. And I don't think babysitting would work, either."

He snapped his finger. "That's one thing we could try. Do you know any kids around here who you'd be willing to watch?"

"A few, but I'm telling you it wouldn't work. I can't go and babysit some small child, only to disappear into another world and have their parents come home, wondering where on earth the babysitter went!"

His mouth twitched. "I guess not."

She thought some more, and said, "This might be a silly notion, but is there any chance we could just fool the scarers into thinking there's a child in a bedroom?"

He shook his head. "No. Not that I know of, anyway."

After further debate, in the end, they decided that they would truly have to rely on pure luck to pull it off. Rebecca was stumped, and also rather frustrated that they could have finished the first step of the plan only to be blocked by the second. She tried not to show her frustration, however, and merely agreed to Victor's plan.

His idea was to roam the neighboring neighborhoods at night, and hopefully run into a sign that the scarers in the monster world would be at their work. What they would do from there would also strongly depend on luck, but somehow they felt hopeful enough to try. Judging by his sudden interest to help her out with the endeavor, Rebecca knew that she had inadvertently caught him up in her eagerness.

Human and monster put their "plan" into action the very next night.

She assured him it would be ok because her mother was used to her taking walks around the neighborhood at odd hours (which was true, although she had left off the habit of doing it months ago.) It was a relatively safe area to live in, and most people didn't mind the odd "night owl" prowling the streets, as long as they weren't shifty. As to that, she had more than one misgiving.

'Victor probably doesn't even realize what people would think if they saw two shady figures peering into a child's bedroom window.' She shuddered at the thought and tried to push them to the back of her mind. Having brushed the thought back, she wondered if going through all this trouble was really worth trying to get into the monster world. After all, even if they did manage to get in, what then? Would Victor be kicked out again? And what might happen to _her_ if they succeeded? Victor said that there had never been a human in the monster world before. There was no telling how they would react to it.

She shook her head and instead tried to think of their rendezvous as nothing more out of the ordinary than a cool night's stroll. She had lent him a hooded sweatshirt to hide his face, though she wasn't at all confident about his tail being concealed. 'Thank Heaven his tail is short,' she thought. She glanced down at her friend and couldn't help thinking that he looked rather cute ambling along in her hoodie. She didn't voice those thoughts, of course.

For a time it seemed that even his mind was not on the task at hand, as he often lifted his head and inhaled softly, and deeply. Sometimes he would raise his head and gaze up at the stars for a while, as if trying to identify any differences between stars in the human world and the monster world.

She caught him glancing skyward at one point. "You like star-gazing?"

He half-smiled. "I used to do it back home with my brother."

"You have a brother?"

"Yeah. His name is Chris."

There was a short silence before she ventured to say, "I wish you could meet my brothers. They're fun to be around, and have a great sense of humor."

"You told me once that they live apart."

She nodded. "My younger brother, Mark, lives with our dad. My older brother, Nathaniel, lives about...4 hours away from here."

"You must miss them."

"Always." She then remembered his own sad story, and lowered her head. How much more must he be longing for _his_ family, his brothers?

"You know, Victor," she said, stopping. "I don't think this is going to work. How are we going to hear anything from anyone's house all the way out here?"

"We should get closer, then."

"I don't want people to think we're creepers."

He looked over his shoulder at her, one eye glinting mischievously in the light of the moon. "I _am_ a creeper."

She couldn't stifle the laugh that escaped her throat. "Not the kind I'm thinking of,_ trust_ me."

Nevertheless, she followed him toward the first house that was within sight. They didn't get too close, not right up to the window, but enough so that they could vaguely see inside.

"This is ridiculous," she whispered. "We're totally spying on them!"

"That's what we agreed to do," he whispered back.

She shook her head. "It seemed ok at the time, but now we're actually here..."

He waved his hand at her to quiet down, his gaze riveted on the scene through the window. "This house isn't the one," he said.

"Why not?"

"It's an old couple. No kids."

She sighed, and they slunk away, defeated for the night. Neither of them had the heart to keep the search up.

Rebecca had thought she had had enough "spying" for good, after their first venture. But when evening came on the next night, she began to unwittingly entertain thoughts of what it would be like if she and Victor succeeded. That was enough to get her to agree to it again.

And again. And again.

She and Victor went night after night in search of a chance that they might hear the telltale roar of a monster. Or at least the screaming of a child. Something - anything - that would clue them in as to where they might head, if they wanted to snag a chance at getting in. Rebecca purposefully spaced the nightly excursions far enough apart so that her mother wouldn't wonder where on earth she was heading out to each night.

As it turned out, being that she and Victor didn't give up, they did eventually meet with a stroke of luck. It happened in a rather unexpected way.

They had agreed to walk an extra length to a different neighborhood - in fact, one that a friend of hers lived in - and try their seemingly non-existent luck there.

They were strolling down what, for Rebecca, was familiar territory, as she sometimes visited this place to spend time with her friend. It happened that her friend was sitting outside on her small porch (being that it was an uncommonly warm night), rocking her 2-year-old in her lap.

A sudden thought struck her, and she kneeled down beside Victor.

"I need to pick you up," she said in a low, quiet voice.

"What?" he stared at her.

"I need to pick you up. We have to fake like I'm baby-sitting you or something. My friend's sitting on her porch a few houses down, and if she sees me she's gonna say hi."

His eyes widened in realization, and he nodded, albeit reluctantly. "Are you sure you can lift me?"

"I have no idea," she said, and without further ado, hoisted him up in her arms. It was a little awkward, but they could not risk him being seen. He was heavy, but not so heavy that she couldn't hold him for a while - a very short while.

"Pull your hood down, and try to hide your tail," she said, and proceeded to walk down the street.

"Why don't we just turn back and avoid your friend?" he asked in a hushed voice.

"Because I have an idea."

She trudged on with the monster in her arms, until she was within sight of her friend's porch light.

"Just follow along," she whispered to him. "Whatever happens, don't let yourself be seen."

"I know!" he hissed.

"Hey, Rebecca!" her friend waved from the porch chair. Her little boy squirmed around in her lap and shouted to be let down.

"Hi, Shannon," she said as she walked up to the stairs.

"What are you up to?" Shannon asked.

She was a pretty woman, with short blonde hair, short stature, and a set of dainty glasses on her face.

"Just taking a nightly stroll with kiddo here." She lifted the monster up again. "My mom's friend is over, and I said I'd take her boy for a walk." She walked up the few steps to the porch and Shannon peeked at the curiously large "child" in her arms.

"He's really shy," Rebecca explained. "He said he'd only let me take him for a walk if he got to wear my hoodie over his...dinosaur costume."

Shannon laughed and bent down to retrieve her own child's toy, which he had dropped. She handed it to him and he walked over to Rebecca, greeting her with a friendly "Hi!"

Rebecca smiled and said, "Hi!" then looked to Shannon. "So what are you and Justin up to?"

"Same thing you are, without the walking."

They chatted for several minutes, and Rebecca gratefully accepting a seat. She worried a little about Victor, hoping he wasn't getting stifled under the hoodie. His tail peeked out from beneath the jacket, but Shannon didn't seem to notice or care. There finally came a point where they broke off conversation and Shannon turned to Justin, telling him it was time for bed. He protested, and she brought him into the house.

"Is it alright if I let Victor take a little nap with him? He'll be less grumpy when we walk home."

So Shannon led them upstairs to Justin's room.

It was merciful, afterwards, that Shannon left the room to go get something. Justin was already settled into his bed, but Rebecca said quietly to Victor, "Don't scare the kid. Just sit and wait for something to happen. Don't talk to him, either."

"I know, I know," said Victor, on the edge of a nervous wreck. He had never attempted anything so daring before in his life. At any second he might get found out, and then he would be done for. He huddled deeper into the hoodie (as deep as he could get, considering it was none too large for him) and lied still on the little floor bed that Shannon had made for him.

Rebecca breathed deeply, and (very reluctantly) joined her friend downstairs. She couldn't believe she was doing this.

The scream came sometime after 10:00 PM, when the two women were still visiting in the kitchen.

Rebecca and Shannon conversed longer than they thought, as was the habit whenever the two got together. Shannon's husband, Arthur, was outside, working on a new ring for his upcoming art festival showing, and wasn't aware of the commotion inside.

"Oh, that sounds like Victor!" Rebecca insisted before Shannon could rise from her seat. "I'll go check on them, be right back!"

She rushed out the room, ran upstairs, pushed open Jacob's door, and stopped.

"Oh my God," she breathed.

A giant blue thing was wrestling with Victor, trying to close Justin's closet door. Justin had run out of the room. Victor was trying to keep the door open with all his might, but it was a losing battle. The blue thing - monster, whatever it was - was hardly visible. A mess of tentacles fought against the door, and grunts of frustration were heard from the other side. Victor refused to give in, in spite of his draining strength. He looked over at Rebecca, who still stood gaping.

"What are you waiting for?" he gasped, frustrated. "Help!"

Before she knew what she was doing, she rushed over and tried to pull the door back. She was a little afraid of the blue monster, whom she could now see more clearly. He was indeed very large, with long grasping tentacles - and even so, Rebecca couldn't help but be reminded of a sock puppet.

The monster was facing away from them, putting all his strength into shutting the door. When he turned and saw Rebecca, he gave a startled yell and took off, releasing the door with tremendous backlash.

"We have it!" Victor crowed.

As to what was to be done, there was no further explanation needed.

Both Victor and Rebecca jumped through the door and slammed it shut behind them.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

They lied there, stunned from the effort they had exerted and from the realization of what had just happened, which didn't quite sink in yet. Victor lay sprawled on the floor, with Rebecca beside him. When they raised their heads, the spectacle that greeted them was less than savory. But if they were shocked, it didn't compare to how their audience felt upon seeing them.

They had made it to the monster world, against all odds. It was hard to believe, even as they felt the proof in their aching limbs, but the proof stood right in front of them in the form of a very stunned crowd. Monsters of all shapes and sizes were crowded around the door they had come through, gaping, staring, speechless.

Victor tried to recover himself. "It's alright," he said in a voice that betrayed his fear. "It's alright, I'm a monster." He blushed at the idiocy of the statement, and made placating gestures. In the midst of his bewilderment, he couldn't help but notice that the crowd of monsters surrounding them looked...well..._funny_. In fact, they all looked liked escapees from a circus caravan. Streamers and balloons were in the hands of some, honking horns in others, and confetti, bazookas, and all sorts of other oddments could be seen in the clutches of just about everyone.

"What is the meaning of this?" demanded a voice. A shape emerged from the crowd, revealing a medium-sized red monster with 7 eyes, long limbs, and clawed feet. He held a clipboard in one hand, and a yellow construction helmet on his head. Rebecca gawked at him, but Victor said:

"Sir, I'm sorry to have caused a disturbance. My friend and I just came through the door. I'm a monster, I'm from Monstropolis!" He said it as if it were all the explanation needed.

The red monster, however, frowned and pointed his pen at Rebecca. Through his facade, even she could tell that he seemed apprehensive, and reluctant to approach her. "A human. And an adult, at that." He straightened his helmet and looked back at Victor. "The Boss is gonna have somethin' to say about this." He motioned for them to follow. They had no choice either way, as several large monsters - apparently some kind of security - followed close behind to make sure there was no "funny business."

The crowd of scarers and other employees murmured behind them. They all stood, watching as human and monster were led away. Rebecca felt very self-conscious about her human appearance. She was even beginning to doubt whether or not it had been a good idea to come. After all, the "welcome committee" hadn't been what she expected. But then, both she and Victor knew they were taking a big risk. Being surrounded by unfriendly, inhuman-looking creatures caused a sudden longing for home to swell up inside her. 'Here I am, and I'm already wanting to leave, after all the trouble Victor and I went through. What kind of fool are you, Bec?' she thought.

They passed door after door, through countless hallways. Wherever they went, monsters stared. Rebecca noticed that some of them even drew back a little as they passed by, as if they were afraid.

Victor was in a trance beside her. The fact that they were being forced to confront the "Boss," whoever that was, did little to phase him. He seemed genuinely glad to be back, and looked around eagerly at his surroundings and at all the monsters they passed by. His heart was thumping in his chest. 'I did it,' he thought. 'I can't believe I'm actually back...'

Finally, they stopped at a large door with a bronze plaque mounted on it. It read: James P. Sullivan. CEO, Monsters Inc.

The name meant nothing to Rebecca of course. But Victor was fairly bursting with fear and enthusiasm. Being a relatively calm guy by nature, he stood stock-still, eyes and mouth gaping wide. "Sullivan," he breathed. "_The_ famous Sullivan...I don't believe it." Then he frowned. "Last I heard, Henry Waternoose was the CEO of this company."

Several of the escorts, having overheard him, exchanged glances.

The red monster stepped up, knocked on the door, and stood back. It was answered by a large, bulky, blue-furred monster. His face belied his features, though. It was kinder than any of the other faces Rebecca had seen so far, but it didn't ease her nerves any. He wore a tie and carried a briefcase that looked too small for someone his size.

His initial reaction was to offer a genuine smile in greeting, but it vanished the second he saw Rebecca. He half stepped out of his office. "What - what's going on?" he asked in a bewildered voice.

The red monster folded his arms and explained the situation as best he could, though he couldn't stop Victor from correcting him and trying to jump in at every opportunity. In mid-sentence, Sulley held up his hand, signing them to stop. "I'd better talk to these two alone, Jeff." He rubbed a hand over his face. "Listen, why don't you take a 10. I'll get back to you in a bit, but first I need to sort this out."

Jeff's seven eyes grew slightly wide, as if his boss was making a crazy suggestion. But he said, "Alright, sir," then couldn't resist adding, "If you should happen to need any assistance -"

"That's alright, Jeff," Sulley interrupted.

Jeff motioned for the security escorts to follow, leaving Victor, Rebecca, and Sulley alone.

Sulley looked tired. He turned toward them and stepped aside, indicating his office. "Why don't you two come on in."

x

Victor and Rebecca had done their best to explain to Sulley why they were there. Victor went so far as to relate to him the story of why he had been banished from the monster world in the first place. From there, they included their first meeting, Rebecca's desire to see Monstropolis, Victor's newfound desire to get back, their attempts at formulating a plan, and so on.

Sulley listened with patience, and not a little astonishment. The odds of such an audacious attempt from a banished monster were slim - not to mention dragging a human along with him (even if it had been her idea.)

They ended with the skirmish in Justin's room.

All the time they had talked, Rebecca had to own that she felt foolish in front of Sulley, realizing by now that she had caused a stir - and possibly a lot of trouble - just because she wanted to satisfy a curiosity.

Sulley placed his hands on the desk and regarded the two "intruders."

"This isn't gonna be easy to explain," he said. "But listen - Victor, things have changed since you were last here. I don't even know where to start..."

The orange monster leaned forward a little in his seat. "Does any of it explain why everyone on the scare floor looked like _clowns_?"

Sulley's mouth twitched in a smile. "I guess it's my turn to start explaining things. We don't scare children anymore. We make them laugh!"

Victor's face was uncomprehending. Rebecca, too, was confused.

"But...monsters have always scared children," he argued. "It's how we've always gotten our energy! If monsters don't bother scaring children, then...then what _are_ we?!"

"Let me finish," Sulley said. "We made a discovery a while ago. It turns out that children aren't toxic like we thought. We..." here, he paused, and tried to compose himself. "We had a visitor here from the human world, and she kinda changed things for us." His eyes went to Rebecca. A deep sadness clouded them as he regarded the human for a moment, remembering another dark-haired girl in pink pajamas.

Victor shook his head. He couldn't believe all that had happened since he had been away.

"There's more," Sulley said. "You'll never believe this, but laughter is actually more powerful than screams." He told his guests about that discovery as well. It made more sense to Victor than it did to Rebecca, though he still had trouble taking it all in.

"So I've been afraid of children all this time for nothing, and..." he looked at Rebecca.

"Look Victor, I'm sorry about you having been banished. I don't think you deserved it, but, maybe I can help reintegrate you back into society. Humans aren't toxic anymore, so...maybe everyone will forgive you for the past."

The orange monster swallowed. "I'd appreciate it, you don't know what it was like being in the human world for so long."

"You'd be surprised. As for you," he said, looking at Rebecca. "I hate to say it, ma'am, but we can't keep you here. I'm sorry."

She shook her head. "I don't want to stay here. I never did. I just wanted to see it. And now that I have, I think I'm ready to go back."

Sulley nodded. "Right. I'll arrange to...uh..." he trailed off, realization suddenly dawning on his face. "You both said you got here through a kid's door?"

They nodded. "Yes," she said.

"It was a neighbor kid's door," Victor put in.

Sulley's eyes went wide, but then he sighed. "Then she can't go back through the same door," he said it more to himself than to them. He redirected his attention and sat straight in his chair. "This may be more difficult than I thought."

"What do you mean?" she asked, panic rising in her chest.

"We don't make doors for grown humans. We only make them for children. We can't send you back through the same door, not after what happened. It's against regulations."

"Then how will I get back?" her voice rose.

"I'll think of something, don't worry. I'll discuss the situation with our door manufacturers, maybe they can come up with a solution."

Rebecca was speechless.

"Hey, don't worry," Sulley was sympathetic. "We'll figure something out, we have the best of the best here at Monsters Inc. If the monsters I know here can't find a way, no one can."

"That's what worries me," she said in a hollow voice, and slumped back in the chair.

x

Temporary accommodations had been arranged for Victor and Rebecca.

Sulley understood that reintegrating Victor back into monster society would have its challenges, and situating Rebecca in the monster world would be even more difficult. In spite of the newfound knowledge that human children were not toxic, old habits died hard, and many monsters still had qualms about approaching human children too closely, much less an adult human. All monsters had been taught from an early age the danger of human children and exposing one's self to the human world. Such fears were rooted deep in their mindset, and in spite of the change in their view of human children, it would take time for the old fears and beliefs to be completely banished.  
Sulley had arranged for a place close to the company, in case anything should happen and they needed to get a hold of him. He was aware of how delicate the situation was, mostly because of Rebecca. It was hard enough explaining to his colleagues the reason for her being there. And in a weird way, her presence actually benefited Victor: it took the attention off of him and his record. Indeed, no one seemed to notice or care much that he was back in Monstropolis, not with a human in their midst. It would be like worrying about a kitten when a lion was in the room.

Still, Sulley managed it somehow, and not a little because he was greatly respected and admired by his peers and fellow workers. Though it could be said that his popularity was put to the test upon trying to convince everyone that Rebecca posed no danger, and that she and Victor would be put into a temporary residence until a solution could be worked out for the both of them. At this point, everyone's distrust of Rebecca came mostly out of fear that she would expose their world to other humans when she got back - not so much that they believed she was toxic to the touch.

As for Victor, while he sympathized greatly with her plight, there was little he could do to help, other than provide moral support. He also had his own problems to worry about, such as where he would live now that he was back in his own world, and how he would be able to provide for himself and start his life anew. Sulley had promised him that he would try and get him a job. Now that monsters didn't have to be terrifying anymore, it was easier to recruit new members onto the floor, as it required much less talent to be funny than to be scary.

x

In the meantime, Victor and Rebecca were sizing up their abode.

It was a small apartment with two bedrooms, a bathroom, a nice kitchen, living room, and a small outside porch. Being that neither of them had any possessions, there was no unpacking involved. Naturally, it was more uncomfortable for her than it was for him. She never imagined that she could feel so alien and alone, even if Victor was her friend, and even if Sulley had shown her kindness.

She sat on the couch in the small living room and took in her surroundings. It wasn't much different than a human apartment, aside from the more austere decor - but it was that decor that suddenly seemed threatening to her. The fang-like pattern on the sofa, the spikes on the rim of the floor rug - they stood out to her like a sore thumb and felt ugly, threatening.

Victor emerged from his room and noticed her sitting there.

"You ok?" he asked.

Her attention snapped to him. She gave a nervous laugh. "I'm ok, I guess. It's just different being here, when you're the one who's different."

He walked over and sat down on the loveseat opposite her. "Do you regret coming here?"

It took a while for her to answer, and all she could come up with was, "I don't know."

Victor nodded. "You probably feel the same as how I felt, when I had been banished and was the only one of my kind in a strange world."

She looked at him, a sudden strong, sympathetic realization dawning on her. "Victor…Gosh, I never knew...not until now, how you must have felt."

"It's alright. You couldn't have known. And…" he went over to her and placed a hand on her arm. It was the first time he had ever dared to touch her. "You were a good friend. You were the only friend I had, and if I hadn't had you around, I don't know what I would have done." She smiled. "I'll try to be as good a friend to you now as you were to me then. Mr. Sullivan and the others will find a way to get you back to your right place."

She nodded. "I know. I think they will, too. I'm just...going through a period of adjustment, I guess."

He sighed. "You're not the only one. Well, I guess I ought to go out and get some food for us, um…" he looked at her, "I hope you'll find something in this world you can eat."

She shrugged. "I don't think I have a choice; I don't know how long I'll be here, so I'll have to survive _somehow_."

He nodded. "Well, I hate to leave you alone -"

"It's alright, Victor - go to the store or something, I'll just rest here. I think I need it."

With that, he left for the store, and she lied on the couch, trying not to let fear creep in. Sulley had lent Victor some money with which to buy necessities with. He was reluctant to accept it, but Sulley had insisted, telling him not to worry about it. Victor, after all, was more than aware of his plight. He had absolutely no money, no job, no home. He wouldn't get by without accepting help.

The two friends had a quiet meal that night.

Rebecca was relieved to find some things that were palatable enough for her to eat, and it didn't turn out as bad as she thought. After dinner, they talked about their situation.

"There isn't much we can do to help them figure out a way to send you back. You already told them your address."

"I know, and I feel helpless sitting here waiting for them to figure it out." She folded her hands, leaning back on the sofa.

"Why don't I try and show you around the city tomorrow? It might take your mind off your predicament, and besides, you wanted to see it anyway."

She gave a wry smile. "That was before I thought I'd get trapped here - but sure, I think that's a good idea. I'll...try to enjoy this place while I can,_ if_ I can. By the way, how exactly will you be able to show me around? Do you think bringing a human out in broad daylight will cause a stir?" She chuckled to show she was not really alarmed, but didn't hide it that well.

"Of course!" he smacked his forehead. "I forgot to show you. Look," he pulled a piece of paper out of his shirt pocket (the shirt having been given to him by Sulley, as part of the uniform attire at the factory.) He handed it to her.

"Wow," she said after reading it. "It's like a permission slip."

"Yes. Mr. Sullivan gave it to me before we left the building, I just forgot to mention it to you. It's got his signature on it, as you can see. I think that'll guarantee us safety wherever we go...even from the CDA."

"CDA?"

"Child Detection Agency."

"Oh, yeah. But I'm not a child, I hope we won't have any trouble with them."

"I don't think we will. I'm sure word has leaked out by now that a human is taking residence in Monstropolis."

Her eyes went wide. "You think so?"

He shrugged a shoulder. "Maybe. Word gets out pretty quick around here."

She stared at the paper. "Well...I guess it's worth trying...I don't want to stay cooped up in here during my entire visit, however long or short it may be."

He nodded. "That's the spirit. And, unlike the way things were when I was trapped in the human world, we won't have to parade you around with a blanket over your head."

She laughed. "Thank Heaven for that."

x

Sulley idly tapped a pen on his desk. He was slumped over in his chair, unable to focus on his work. At least he didn't have a huge stack of paperwork to complete; only a measly foot-high pile that sat, neglected, near the picture frame that held Boo's smiling face. He mirrored the smile and took the frame in hand, remembering when he had gone to visit her some months ago to take the picture. He always missed that little girl, but was grateful that he could visit her at all.

He hadn't heard of any progress that morning concerning obtaining a door that would lead Rebecca back to her own home. It was one thing to make doors that led to any child's bedroom, but quite another to make one that led to a specific adult's room. It had previously been unneeded and unheard of in the monster world. He was basically asking the door designers and manufacturers to come up with a revolutionary invention in a short span of time. Sulley never could get a handle on door portal science, and marveled at how any of them did it.

A knock on the door broke his thoughts, and he called the person in.

It was Otis, one of Sulley's favorite specialists and friend, a good problem-solver and keen worker. He was a medium-sized monster with red scales, lean physique, two arms, and six legs that crawled along the floor like a caterpillar.

"Sir," Otis addressed him, "we may have just had a stroke of luck. I spoke to the CEO of Fear Corporation on the phone, and he thinks his company may be able to help."

"Fear Corporation?" Sulley repeated doubtfully.

"I know, I know. We're not exactly palsy-walsy with them, but I heard it from his own mouth. He said to bring the girl over and they'd try and figure something out."

Sulley seemed hesitant to embrace this unexpected helping hand. "Why would Fear Co. offer to help us?" he wondered out loud.

Otis shrugged. "Maybe they see it as helping the human - not us. Or maybe they want the publicity."

"Why am I not surprised," he muttered and got out of his chair. "Alright. We have to try, for Rebecca's sake. The poor kid's gotta be uncomfortable in a place like this."

x

"TAG! You're it!"

The little yellow monster screeched in delight as Rebecca ran after him.

Victor stood nearby, half nervous and half bemused at the spectacle his friend was displaying. He had never seen her so playful and carefree before. Even so, he couldn't keep from glancing around the park they had walked to. At first, he had thought that a walk to the park would be a nice, calm thing for Rebecca to do on her first day in Monstropolis - but the fearful and disapproving glares they were receiving from the young monster's parents gave him second thoughts. All he wanted to do now was yank Rebecca out of there and disappear. He wondered how she hadn't yet managed to notice the stares they were receiving.

Though, she did seem to be having a great time playing with the little ones. "Human and Monster" was a popular game amongst kids - and being that they had a real human to play with, it made it that much more fun.

He stared as Rebecca jumped out from behind a tree and tagged one of the kids in the back. The monsterling squealed and took off, and Victor couldn't help but laugh, too. He failed to notice a very angry mother approaching the group.

"_Hector_! Come along, it's time to go home!"

The kid named Hector whined, but his mother took him by the fist, with a parting glare at Victor and Rebecca, who instantly sobered from the fun. The other kids parents came and gathered their children as well, much to the children's chagrin. Grumbles of "I don't know why they let a human here. What will they think of next?" could be heard audibly from the disgruntled mothers.

Rebecca felt terrible.

Victor walked over to her and said tentatively, "Don't take it too hard, Becca. They're just...afraid. Remember what I said about humans in Monstropolis."

She breathed out, not meeting his eyes. "I know. But nothing brings it home like having it shoved in your face."

"Do you want to go back...er...home?"

"I think that's a good idea."

Rebecca was inclined to feel depressed for a while after that, and wanting nothing more than to leave this world and go back to her own. She felt, too, the bitter irony that she and Victor had, in theory, switched places.

Victor did what he could to lift her spirits, but he had distractions of his own. He often visited Monsters Inc. to see about getting employment. Sulley had set up several tests for him to take in order to see where his strengths and weaknesses were, and where he might best fit in, if anywhere. Rebecca was hesitant to go out after her rejection at the park, and she seemed to sink into a blacker mood by the day.

One day, Victor arrived at the apartment after having spent a handful of hours taking tests and getting acquainted with things at Monsters Inc. He saw her lying on the bed in her room, and decided to try and put an end to her seclusion.

He stood in the door and knocked on the frame. "Are you awake?"

She leaned up on an elbow. "What is it?" Her voice was low and dispirited.

"We're going to the museum."

She sat up. "What museum?"

"The Museum of Scarers."

"What for?"

He turned to face her. "Because you can't lie in here all day."

She said nothing.

"I realize it's been hard for you being stuck here, especially after what happened with those uptight mothers. But you can't blame them. They're ignorant and they don't know any better. Don't hold it against all monsters for the behavior of a few. We need to get you out of the house."

She swung her legs to the floor and looked at him. "You saw what happened at a park. What do you think will happen at a sophisticated museum?"

"You'll be safe, trust me. If anything untoward happens, it won't be us who starts it - in which case the law will be on our side."

She shook her head. "I don't know if I'm ready."

"If you keep staying in here all day, you'll never be ready. Come on Rebecca. Let me repay what you did for me when I was in need."

Without another word, she stood up and faced him. "Alright. Let's go."

They did end up having a good time at the museum. Victor tried not to show his surprise at how taken his friend was with the environment. Visitors did gawk, and security pestered them with questions periodically. One of them even threatened to call the CDA, until Victor explained the situation to them and pulled out Sulley's authorization of Rebecca's presence as proof. That seemed to calm them down, though they weren't about to let her out of their sight. Even so, she was able to somewhat ignore the ominous presence of the security guards, and let Victor give her a personal tour of one of his favorite attractions in Monstropolis. He said that he used to come here all the time in the days before his banishment. He still remembered every room, every display, even the sweet-musty smell of the place.

They visited room after room, saw countless busts and old painted portraits of legendary scarers. He related to her the history behind scaring, which greatly amused her to hear tell of how monsters needed scream energy in order to keep their civilization thriving, so to speak.

"And to think, all that time, that the sound of a child's laughter produced more energy than their screams did." He shook his head.

"I still don't see where you monsters got the toxicity idea from," she remarked as she gazed at the bust of a particularly grotesque-looking monster. "Jeez. Nevermind children, I know adults who would scream if they saw this guy in person."

He grinned. "It is impressive. We monsters have quite the history."

"So I see."

The Hall of Horror concluded their visit, and they went home. They didn't use a car or even public transportation, for obvious reasons. It was no short walk to the museum from the place they were staying at, but it was doable enough to make them tired by the time they got home.

She flopped down on the couch. She was silent for so long that he thought she had fallen asleep, but she said, "Thanks for getting me out of the house. You were right to do it."

"You're welcome," he said. She drifted off to sleep shortly after that, and he covered her with a blanket.

x

A week had gone by before Sulley broke the news to his charges. He informed them of Fear Co.'s willingness to look into the matter. Victor knew a little about Fear Co., but Rebecca, naturally, was clueless. Both he and Sulley explained to her that Fear Co. served the same function as Monsters Inc.

"Problem is, it's also who we're competing with. But luckily that won't matter in this case," Sulley said.

That sounded alright to Rebecca. Victor was a little suspicious, as was Sulley, but they didn't dwell on it for long.

"Fear Co. has never volunteered to help Monsters Inc. before, as far as I know. I wonder why they'd start now," Victor wondered.

Sulley tried to remain positive. "Otis thinks they're doing it for the publicity. Wouldn't be unlike them to do so."

"I guess…"

"When are we supposed to go there?" She asked.

"Tomorrow," He said. "The CEO will need to get a little information on where you live, and from there they might take a little while to find a way back for you."

"What does Fear Co. have that your company doesn't?"

"Some of their technology is different. That includes the way their portal scientists work. It's one of the reasons they're competing with us."

"Ironic."

"You're telling me. Anyway, you're set to appear tomorrow at 11:30 AM. Hope it works out."

"Mr. Sullivan -" Victor started.

He held up his hand with a smile. "Call me Sulley."

"Sulley...I want to thank you for what you've done for Rebecca and I. I don't know where we would have been without you, so...thanks."

She nodded. "Thank you, sir. We really appreciate it."

He answered with his trademark grin. "Not a problem. I'm happy to help. Cheer up you guys, things'll work out."

They chatted on the way home, duly ignoring the stares she received from passersby.

"How long have Monsters Inc. and Fear Co. been competing with each other?"

"A long time. I can't say specifically."

"Which one is better?"

He snorted. "Whichever one people _say_ is better. Ask someone who works at Fear Co., and they'll say Fear Co. is the best. Same with Monsters Inc., though they have been around longer."

She shook her head. "Strange world...I still can't believe I made it here."

"Mm, I know what you mean. In my case, I'm glad to be back. I'm glad things have changed since I've been here, otherwise I might not have a fighting chance."

They were silent for a time. The sun was setting over the city, casting dusky shadows and bright streaks of fading light cutting through trees and buildings. The distant shouting of children, rumble of cars, and various other city noises were so like home, that had it not been for the inhuman inhabitants, Rebecca might have believed she was back home.

Charming as the evening setting was, she kept her eyes averted away from the monsters within proximity. Victor kept his head up, meeting all manner of stares with neither contempt nor friendliness. Some of the monsters held nothing more than curiosity and fascination in their eyes, as if he had nothing more than an exotic pet in his care. Others held a less friendly composure, burning holes in the little monster's neck and shying away from them as they passed by. Monster mothers were among the worst, and by contrast, their children were the most unprejudiced. The very youngest, of course, weren't even aware that Rebecca was not a monster, and the older ones pointed and jumped with eagerness.

Victor must have felt his friend's tenseness, because he said, "They can't keep it up forever. The buzz'll die down before we know it. People always gossip." He kicked a small stone into the street and they trudged the rest of the way in silence.

When they got home, he prepared a little dinner for them. Rebecca told him that she was fond of cooking, but had way less experience using monster-world ingredients than he did. She thought his cooking was good, as far as the cuisine of that world went. Some of the things he prepared for her were not at all to her liking, but others, she was pleased to say, were quite tasty.

"It's too bad we don't have some of this in our world," she remarked as she took a bite off her plate.

"Glad I could make something that agrees with you."

There were a few minutes of silence, then she asked, "What was your life like when you lived here, years ago? I mean outside of your job, and being curious about the human world, and all."

He set down his napkin and swallowed. "I was a quiet sorta guy. Still am, I guess. But I still had a social life. I lived in a small apartment then, too, nicer than this one, of course. I even had a girl - Tracey was her name."

She raised her eyebrows and took a sip of water.

He nodded. "She was great, always listening to what I had to say, not putting me down. She had a lot of patience with me, more than anyone else ever did, and...I guess I took it for granted."

He said no more, and although she was dying to know more about it, she said nothing. It was clear the pain was still fresh in his mind. She wondered what this Tracey looked like. Since arriving in Monstropolis, she marveled at how distinct the monsters were from each other. Victor had never exaggerated when he said they were a diverse group. For all she knew, Tracey could have been a six-legged, one-eyed, polka-dotted octopus-like creature.

She laughed quietly. "We humans must seem pretty boring in appearance compared to you monsters."

He lightly shrugged. "I don't think most monsters give much thought to human appearance. Too focused on their toxicity - or were." He paused. "It's one of the things I always found kinda odd about us, I guess. That human beings could be such an essential part of our life - without actually being in our life - and yet we gave so little thought to them outside of what they could do for us. The energy and all that."

She didn't know how to respond. "I guess it's understandable, I mean...if your people thought that human children were so dangerous, it would obviously make it hard for there to be any kind of connection between worlds. From what you've told me, the scarers are supposed to go in and out of the human world as quickly as possible, while still doing their job well."

He nodded. "It'd have been too dangerous to linger."

"What about now? Things ought to be changing, but I can see the news hasn't completely sunk in."

He glanced at her and pushed back his plate. "I don't know. Despite having lived here years ago, I arrived in the middle of a new era, it seems, so I know about as much as you. Big changes always take time to sink in." He took their plates to the kitchen, and they cleared up.

That night, Rebecca lied in bed for some time, wondering how tomorrow would play out, and whether the next night would see her falling asleep peacefully or not. She realized that these monsters at Fear Co. would need time to solve the problem - if they could solve it at all - but the anticipation welled up in her regardless. She wondered if it would ever wear off. She wondered, too, what her mother was doing at that moment, and shuddered deeply to think of the distress she no doubt was causing with her disappearance.

'I should have left a note,' she thought, though knowing as well that it wouldn't have helped much. A daughter couldn't just disappear without a goodbye and not cause worry, and the fact that it happened at night didn't help either.

She hoped she wouldn't hate herself as much in the morning, and eventually drifted off into an uncomfortable sleep.

x

In another part of the city, in an office within Fear Co.'s building, there sat a large, hunched figure pouring over several sheets of paper.

"This may work, Mr. Worthington," he rumbled in a rich, silky voice.

"Never doubted this company for a minute, sir."

The figure swiveled in his chair to face his top scarer. "They'll be arriving tomorrow. I need us all to be at our best when they come."

He smirked. "We always are."

"That's the kind of attitude I'm looking for," he smiled.

He raised an eyebrow and folded his arms. "You sure you want the human brought here?"

The man sighed. "It's necessary if we're to see this through properly. I know what our regulations say, what our company code stands for. But things are changing, Mr. Worthington. Our world is not the one we knew several years ago."

"So long as you don't think this will hurt the company's reputation."

"If anything, son, it'll revive it." He slid the papers in a drawer and they exited the office.

"See you bright and early tomorrow, Worthington."

The monster waved his hand and headed toward his convertible, but not without giving a last glance at the illuminated insignia that was the trademark of his corporation. It presided over the building like a monarch ready to govern, and he was immensely proud of it. Tomorrow, he vowed to be at his boss's side and ensure that everything went according to plan. What took place might even go down in history books some day, and he knew the significance of it.

He started the engine and pulled out of the company lot toward home.


End file.
